Hellboy's First Christmas
by epalladino
Summary: Reposted for the Holiday. Some moments between father and son. Merry Christmas!
1. Hellboy's First Birthday

_**Author's notes:** Couldn't resist posting something for Christmas. One point for those who are only familiar with Hellboy through Guillermo's excellent film adaptation: in the comic Hellboy was conjured on December 23, the day before Christmas Eve, not in October as in the film. Even though my stories are mainly based on the movie, I prefer the December date. _

**Hellboy's First Christmas**

**Chapter One: Hellboy's First Birthday**

_**Secret Military Base, somewhere in New Mexico  
December 1945** _

Technically, it really wasn't going to be Hellboy's first Christmas this year.

But Trevor Broom wasn't sure he would like to count the Christmas in 1944 that was just a few days after he had found the infant red-skinned demon on an island off the coast of Scotland; the same island where Broom was shot in the leg while fighting against Nazi occultists.

All that came forth that night, the night before Christmas Eve, was a strange baby boy; a boy that Trevor Broom came to love dearly and think of as his son. Unfortunately, Broom and his newfound son ended up spending their first Christmas together tossing about in a ship in the stormy seas off the coast of Scotland.

The American soldiers who had accompanied the English-born Broom on this assignment against the Nazis loved this demon infant they had all taken to calling Hellboy. This was fortunate, since they had to care for Hellboy while Broom spent most of Christmas with a fever due to an infection stemming from the bullet wound in his right leg.

Trevor Broom was thankful that the American ship he was on had an excellent surgeon and his leg healed faster than he had originally expected. By the end of 1944, he found himself and Hellboy moving to live in the United States under the protection of the federal government and the FBI. President Roosevelt eventually appointed Broom to be the director of the newly formed Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense and allowed him to keep custody of Hellboy.

Of course, this had to be done in secret. It wouldn't particularly be in Hellboy's best interest for the general American public to know that an infant the Nazis had probably conjured from the depths of Hell resided somewhere in their country. Broom eventually found himself and Hellboy residing on a series of secret military bases.

Trevor Broom quickly became attached to Hellboy, wanting to give him as normal a childhood as he could arrange for. This first year was difficult for him, mainly due to the fact that there was little privacy on these military bases. He also had no permanent base of operations for his organization; which meant that he frequently had to travel, reluctantly leaving Hellboy in the hands of others.

Hellboy's rate of physical development had been odd. During most of his first year, he was not much taller than he had been when Broom first found him on that island. On the other hand, his cloven hooves had quickly grown large and the child always clomped around in adult-sized military boots. These boots, when put together with a wardrobe basically adapted from cut-down military fatigues and the presence of his tail, made Hellboy look a lot like a midget-sized red-devil soldier.

His major physical problem was his right hand and forearm, which were closer to the size that would belong to some ten-foot giant and not a three-foot tall child. At first, it seemed that he would never learn to control the actions of this hand. However, Trevor Broom's loving patience with him eventually worked some miracle of restraint in Hellboy; who really wanted nothing more than to please the man who loved him as a father.

For a long time, Hellboy communicated by a sign language developed and taught to him by Broom. He avoided tying to speak; the only sounds he made being grunting, squealing, or crying when he was upset or scared. Broom came to realize that something was impeding Hellboy's ability to form certain sounds when he finally tried to say the word 'father' for the first time; it came out more as 'fafah'.

Broom eventually found that this problem was stemming from Hellboy's teeth growing faster than his mouth and jaw. The FBI allowed for a military speech pathologist to work with Hellboy. By the time of his first birthday, Hellboy was speaking just fine and due to his very high intelligence was more articulate than a human child would be at that same age.

By the end of 1945, Broom found himself and Hellboy living on an infamously secret military base in Roswell, New Mexico. Broom insisted that they construct him his own private bungalow on this base. It was here that he finally began to develop a 'home' for Hellboy, also using it as the base of operations for his organization.

Broom considered December 23, 1945 as Hellboy's first birthday and wanted everything to be very special that day. He had noticed that Hellboy was starting to become interested in the movies that were often shown for the entertainment of the personnel and their families who resided on the base.

Coming up with the funds to purchase his own film projection equipment, Broom also obtained prints of Hellboy's favorite Gene Autry and John Wayne movies. Hellboy was more than excited when he found that they were going to celebrate his birthday by watching all of his favorite movies and that he would be permitted to eat his favorite foods, especially Baby Ruth candy bars.

After having watched two of these films, they went outside to play catch. After a while, playing catch became somewhat taxing for Broom; his right leg still bothered him at times. Also, the constant reminding to Hellboy to throw only with his left hand had become tiring; any throwing with his right hand could turn the ball into a dangerous missile. Broom finally decided it was time for a rest.

They went back into the bungalow and curled up into a large chair together. Trevor Broom had managed to perfect a way of seating Hellboy on his lap. He tucked Hellboy's over-sized right hand behind his back and angled him so that Hellboy could lay his head on his chest without poking his eyes out with the horns on his forehead. He then wrapped his arms around this red-skinned demon he cherished more than anything else in this world and they long sat together in a loving silence.

It was Hellboy who eventually broke this silence, startling Broom who had almost fallen asleep. Raising his head, he asked, "Father, this has been lots of fun, but don't you have to work today? You're always working or going away somewhere."

Broom kissed Hellboy's forehead. "No, Son, I'm not planning on working at all today. This is your special day and I'm going to spend the whole day just with you."

Hellboy smiled. "I like that, but what's so special about today?"

Broom hugged Hellboy even tighter. "Today is your birthday; it is the anniversary of that remarkable day you first came to me."

Hellboy considered this information. "Do the other kids here have birthdays, or just me?"

Broom put Hellboy down from his lap, stood up, and stretched. "No, Son, all people have birthdays; the anniversary of the day they were born on," he said as he tried to work out the cramp he had developed in his right leg from the weight of Hellboy sitting in his lap for so long. He then took Hellboy's left hand in his own and said, "Let's go outside for a walk. I need to stretch my legs."

They then tramped around the non-restricted sections of the military base. Hellboy was wished a 'happy birthday' by several of the personnel on the base that often worked with Broom running his Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense.

When they returned to the bungalow a half hour later, Hellboy asked, "Father, when is your birthday? You said everyone has one."

Broom sighed; he should have realized that this question would come sooner or later. He stooped down to Hellboy's level. "Son, as far as I'm concerned the most significant day in my life is the day that I found you. It's the only birthday I care to celebrate; the day on which I was born is no longer important to me and I would rather not have it mentioned."

They went in and watched another of Hellboy's favorite cowboy films, then ate a supper consisting of his favorite foods: hot dogs, chili, hot noodles, and Coca-Cola. For dessert, he was allowed to eat even more Baby Ruth candy bars. Hellboy went to sleep that night a very full and happy child.

He had no idea that in a few days time he would be celebrating another 'birthday', the birth of Jesus, the Child of Bethlehem.

_Next: Chapter 2: The Birthday of Jesus_


	2. The Birthday of Jesus

**Author's notes:** This takes place right after the previous chapter.

**Hellboy's First Christmas**

**Chapter Two: The Birthday of Jesus **

The next day was Christmas Eve. Trevor Broom, whose Catholic faith was very important to him, had been working on instructing Hellboy about Jesus and the meaning of Christmas. The fact that Christmas was only two days later than Hellboy's birthday gave a significance, in Broom's eyes, to the birth of Hellboy. He was determined to raise this infant demon to be a force for good in the world.

Broom, just as he had promised, had spent the whole of Hellboy's birthday on the 23rd just watching movies with Hellboy and playing with him. Hellboy assumed that Broom, who was a very busy man, would go back to his work the next day. He was surprised when he did not. About an hour after they had eaten breakfast, Hellboy found him in his office unpacking a lot of small figurines from a box and placing them on his desk.

"Father, who are all these little people?" he asked; also noting that there were statues of sheep, cows, and camels as well.

Broom looked up from his very careful unwrapping of these figurines. "Do you recall what I have been telling you about Baby Jesus? This is a traditional Neapolitan crèche. It is meant to show a representation of what people think the birth of Jesus was like. It is often a tradition to set it up on Christmas Eve. That is what I'm doing now. Later I will set up and decorate a Christmas tree."

Hellboy reached for one of these figurines with his right hand. "Can I look at one?"

Broom gently touched that enormous hand. "I would prefer, Son, that you didn't touch these statues, especially not with your right hand. They are extremely fragile and would break easily. I obtained this crèche on my only trip to Rome and these statues would be hard to replace."

He then unpacked something that looked like a miniature barn made out of wood that had straw glued to the roof. He picked this up and walked out to the room that he used as their private sitting room.

There was a small table there with a covering on it that was some sort of fuzzy white material filled with colored glitter; he placed this barn on the table and went to fetch the figurines. He brought them in two at a time and arranged them along with the barn on the table.

The barn, toward the top of the back wall, had a hole drilled through it and a small light bulb, with a cord and on/off switch, passed through that hole. Broom also arranged some electric candles at the back corners of this table; he plugged all these lights in and switched them on.

Hellboy, who had been watching this whole process in rapt fascination, admired the way the lights on the table made the whole collection of statues glow and made the glitter in the table covering shine. He especially admired the statue of a woman in blue and white robes.

Broom, who had noted his adopted son's interest in all of this, thought that now might be a good time to reinforce the significance of Christmas. Fetching his favorite Bible, he drew the large chair in the sitting room closer to the table with the crèche. Seating Hellboy in his lap, he read him the two different versions of the Christmas story from the Gospels of Luke and Matthew.

He then led him to the table, pointing out various statues that represented characters in these stories: Mary, Joseph, shepherds, Wise Men; and most of all Baby Jesus.

"You, see, Son," Broom said in conclusion, "Tomorrow we celebrate Christmas, which is really the birthday of the Baby Jesus: the baby who grew up to be one of the world's great teachers. Baby Jesus ended up being so much more than just another baby; that is why in the Bible stories I just read to you he is referred to as Emmanuel, or 'God with us'. Jesus is truly God come down from heaven to show us the ways of peace and love."

Hellboy smiled, "You mean Baby Jesus has a birthday just like me? Is that why those Wise Men brought him presents?"

Broom knelt down and looked at the crèche from Hellboy's level. "Yes, that is why the Wise Men brought Baby Jesus gifts and why it is traditional to give gifts to others on Christmas; the Baby Jesus resides in all of our hearts and we can give gifts to him by giving them to others. We can also give him the gift of the love that is in our hearts."

After this little conversation, Broom took Hellboy out to a storage room on the base. From there, Broom and some other men fetched a pine tree about six feet tall. They brought this into the sitting room and arranged it in a special holder that allowed it to set on the floor.

Broom then went out and returned with a few boxes of lights and decorations for the tree. The sets of lights were brand-new, so Broom did not have the trouble of untangling these lights. He proceeded to entwine these strings of large colored bulbs around the tree and use clips at the base of each bulb to attach them to the branches.

Broom then gave Hellboy a little job to do; he held a container of ornament hooks in the palm of his huge right hand and handed these hooks to Broom one at a time with his left hand as Broom was hanging glass ornaments on the tree.

When it was all complete Broom plugged in the lights on the tree and Hellboy really felt like he was looking at something magical. It was especially beautiful when Broom switched off all the other lights and the only light was from the tree and the crèche.

Broom had turned one of his smaller rooms into a private chapel. A local priest, who knew of the BPRD and often was a consultant for it, came and conducted a traditional Christmas Midnight Mass.

Some of the other base personnel who were Catholic also attended this service and Broom allowed Hellboy to stay up for it. He was fascinated for a while, but soon fell asleep. When the Mass was ended, Broom picked up Hellboy, who was still sleeping, and went to carry him out.

It was then that he overheard one who had attended the Mass speak to another. "I can't quite figure Broom out; it's one thing for him to be taking care of this creature, but why does he have to drag it here to Mass with the rest of us? It's just so weird."

Broom turned back into the chapel and addressed this man. He spoke very quietly, not only because he did not want to wake Hellboy, but also because the more furious he was the quieter he became.

"If I choose to raise my adopted son in my own faith, that is my business and no one else's. I expect all who work with me to respect that."

Without waiting for a reply, Broom took Hellboy to his own bedroom and put him to bed. He then retrieved the few gifts that he had managed to purchase and placed them under the tree for Hellboy to find the next morning.

* * *

In December of 2004, Hellboy attended Christmas Midnight Mass in the chapel in the underground facilities in Newark, New Jersey where Trevor Broom's Bureau had been located since the early 1960s. This was the first time Elizabeth Sherman had attended Mass with him. Liz, as he called her, was the woman who Hellboy loved more than anything else in the world. They were soon to marry because she returned this love.

This was also Hellboy's first Christmas since Trevor Broom had been murdered in the previous month. He could not help thinking of him and that Christmas in 1945 when Trevor Broom had set up his beautiful Neapolitan crèche in New Mexico.

After the Mass was over, Hellboy put on one of his warmer shirts and his large tan coat. He climbed up to the roof of the building and sat looking at the stars and beautiful full moon in the sky.

He pulled out a little statue from one of his pockets; it was the Virgin Mary in her blue and white robes, the only statue left from Broom's original crèche. He had, despite his care, lost all of the other statues to the ravages of time and moves of location.

"Blessed Virgin Mary, please tell him I miss him; I miss him so much," He sat for a long time holding the little statue; wondering if Trevor Broom ever realized how much his adopted son had really loved him, even though Hellboy couldn't recall that he had ever told Broom this.

Hellboy eventually stood up. After taking one last look at the moon and the bright stars, he carefully placed the cherished statue back in the pocket he had earlier removed it from.

"Merry Christmas, Father," he whispered. With that, he turned and walked back into the building.


End file.
